Are You a Food Addict?

Eating more but enjoying it less? You may be biologically wired to overindulge. Diets won’t help, but a new approach will

by Norine Dworkin-McDaniel

Photograph: Illustrated by Thomas Fuchs

Don’t worry—you can keep food in your life and still manage to detox, explains Pamela Peeke, MD, lead author of the new book The Hunger Fix: The Three-Stage Detox and Recovery Plan for Overeating and Food Addiction. Instead of getting your dopamine fix from fatty and sweet foods, start getting it from healthier stuff like whole foods, physical activity and regular meditation. “These three pillars can keep your dopamine levels elevated enough to kill the cravings as you’re coming off the junk food and help increase D2 receptors so you can reclaim the reward system,” Peeke says. “Safe dopamine elevation is the recipe for lifelong appetite and addiction control.”